On Sunday morning, my husband reached into our family prayer basket and pulled out our daily intention. It happened to be the name of my brother’s family in New England. His son, our new baby nephew, was being baptized that very day.
We could have pulled their name out of the basket anytime over the course of Lent and during this Easter season. That slip of paper had been in there since just after Ash Wednesday—back before our nephew was even born. But God picked Sunday—his baptism day—as a special day for us to pray for him and for his family.
When I told my brother, he thought I must have peeked. But we never peek. We just reach in and see who God wants us to pray for that day.
I am in awe of how God uses the basket in our lives. Sometimes, we pull a name, and I don’t know whether there’s any particular reason for the timing. But more often than you would expect, when I reach out to let someone know that we prayed for them that day, they tell me that was a day when they had a big decision, or an important medical appointment, or a time when their family could use a little extra support.
One day the person who was our prayer basket intention called and left a message while I was praying for him at mid-day Mass. I’m not even sure he believed me when I told him why I had missed his call. The chances of that seem slim. But it’s true. And I could give you so many other examples.
God’s hand is so evident. Our son pulled out the slip to pray for his orphanage in China on the anniversary of the day we said yes to being his parents.
On Good Friday, his big brother pulled out the slip for us to pray for his birth family. I was so moved thinking of how every adoption story includes the sorrow of Good Friday and—hopefully—the joy of Easter Sunday.
On Easter Sunday, we pulled out our friend Fr. Brown’s name, and I thought of how many roads he has walked with our family, and how much joy he has brought to us through our friendship.
Some people would say that the timing of the intentions is purely coincidental. And, of course, our prayers don’t have to happen at a certain time to be meaningful.
But I think the meaningful timing is God’s gift to us. And, as we are nearing the end of the intentions in the basket for this Lent and now Easter season, I’ve been thinking that what I’ve realized too is how often people need prayers and we just don’t know.
When you reach out to tell someone you are praying for them, sometimes they just say thank you. But often they share an intention that is on their heart. What an honor that is to be part of each other’s stories and to walk with one another through life. And what a gift that God cares enough to show us He is with us in even the smallest moments of our day.
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